Hey Friends, I know that it was only last week that I posted about Going Whole30. However, in reality we’ve been at it about two weeks now, so I thought I would give a little report on going Whole30 with Kids.
Going Whole30 with Kids
It’s been a challenge to say the least. If you recall from my original post, Sunshine was NOT on board and we had to pull the parent card on her. Two weeks later, she is still not on board.
However, I do see that Sunshine has made some changes in her thinking. She needed a snack to take to our quilting class last night and she prepared an apple with the apple slicer-corer and put it in a container to take with her. Both kids have been drinking more water, eating more vegetables and fruit. Applesauce (no sugar added, organic) is now the first snack that the kids grab from the cupboard on their own. Which means they are not picking pretzels, chips or granola bars.
We’ve mostly been eating eggs for breakfast and at the end of the first week, Sunshine did allow as how she liked having scrambled eggs for breakfast. Dinners have been working out because the kids like smoked meats (we had Smoked Tri Tip, and we smoked venison steaks another night). They also like marinated venison. Whole30 Chicken Nuggets have been in the refrigerator as a back up for when they don’t like what we’re having. (Check back Friday for the recipe for Whole30 Chicken Nuggets.)
Whole30 with Kids: the School Lunch Challenge
Packing lunches for school have been particularly hard. Generally, our kids’ school lunches are made up of a combination of packed lunches and purchased school lunches. The regular school lunch fare: peanut butter sandwiches, ham sandwiches, chicken nuggets with ranch, crackers with meat or crackers with peanut butter. Ummm, so none of that is Whole30 compliant.
I purchased organic ham deli meat thinking that we could do ham roll up. Nope. “I don’t like ham rolls.”
We made Whole30 Chicken Nuggets. “I don’t like them cold.”
I converted my Hearty Tomato Soup to Whole30 Hearty Tomato Soup (look for this recipe next week) and put it in a thermos. It was cold by lunchtime, so that didn’t work and turned her off to eating soup for lunch.
I found Whole30 compliant almond flour crackers. At first they were okay, but after a several days, she decided she didn’t like them.
How about almond butter with apple slices. (Peanut butter with apple slices is one of our sandwich alternatives.) She doesn’t like almond butter. I’ve been told sunflower seed butter is more like peanut butter, so we’re going to give that one a go this week.
Lettuce wrap ham was acceptable, but when asked if she wanted it again, Sunshine said no.
So we enter week 3, still trying to figure out school lunches.
Positive Finds for Whole30 with Kids
Although, Sunshine doesn’t like them cold, Whole30 Chicken Nuggets (Check back Friday) have been a hit with everyone. Last Sunday, Sunshine and I made four pounds of boneless chicken thighs into nuggets. They were gone by Friday.
Eggs for breakfast have been working. The Boy has even been learning how to make scrambled eggs. (Extra bonus there. Every six-year-old should go to school with a minor burn from learning how to make scrambled eggs. He came back the second day to do it again, and this time he didn’t burn himself. Now he knows how to crack eggs, whisk them and scramble them. There are so many life lessons in this Whole30 experiment. Oh, and my high school students marveled when I told them that my six-year-old was making everyone’s breakfast on the stove. Some of them still don’t know how to make scrambled eggs. So that’s another bonus.)
I have also been making about a dozen hard-boiled eggs up ahead which can be an alternative to scrambled eggs for breakfast, afternoon snack or added to lunch salads (that’s for the adults though).
Pumpkin seeds are the new pretzel according to Sunshine. I do limit the amount she can have because pumpkin seeds are supposed to be a sometimes choice. Admittedly, I have probably let her have them more than would be recommended because it’s a “carrot” to keep her thinking about better food choices.
Fresh pineapple has been making them happy.
Sunshine likes seafood (although she definitely has champagne taste–lobster, fresh clams, king crab), so salmon for dinner is on the menu. And, we promised her lobster for Valentine’s Day (our second last day of Going Whole30)
Thoughts on Whole30 with Kids
As we continue into the last two of weeks of Whole30 with Kids, I am still looking for ideas to keep the little ones happy with meals and snacks. I will continue to keep you posted about our Whole30 journey. Be sure to check out our Whole30 Day 15 post on Wednesday which focuses more on the adult take aways.
I would love to hear about advice you might having about doing Whole30 with Kids. Especially if you have ideas about packed school lunches, share them in the comments please!
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